Watercolour painting is a fabulously rewarding hobby and is an especially enjoyable way to start out when you first become interested in painting. Before you embark on your newfound artistic endeavours, it is important to make sure that you have a good set of appropriate equipment for watercolour painting. This article will help the beginner watercolour artist to choose the appropriate items when starting out.

Show Ads

[edit] Steps

Obtain a field box. To begin with, you can use a portable lightweight field box. It should be small and sturdy; easy to travel around with. You buy it empty and fill it up with your own choice of colours. It makes a good investment and if you change your mind about the colours that you have bought, it is easy enough to change them.
- If you live in a very hot and dry climate, the best option would be to purchase tube colour paints.
  - Use tube watercolour paints on a plastic, lightweight palette; it's easy to hold and not too heavy.
- The bigger boxes are more suitable for indoors, as they are too bulky to cart around with you on field trips.
Purchase a good quality brush. You need one good brush; spend a bit of money on getting good quality. Buy a few more if you can afford it but you don't need a huge selection of brushes.
- For your brush, look for one that has a wide "belly", so that it will hold and carry plenty of colour and that also comes to a fine point.
- You can make a handy holder for your brushes out of a bamboo mat. This allows you to roll up the brushes and tie them together for ease of carrying.
Purchase water soluble graphite pencils. These are very useful for a watercolor artist.
- Ensure that you also get a propelling pencil, one that has a reasonably soft lead.
Buy some sketchbooks. You can never have too many sketchbooks, in different shapes and sizes.
- But whatever the size, the best type is spiral bound, as these are easier to use outdoors. You can open them out flat and they come in different sizes and different qualities of paper; heavier paper will take colour well, so that you are able to experiment with your paints.
- You should also get some watercolour paper in pad form, spiral bound with loose sheets which you can remove once you've done your work.
Assemble together various miscellaneous items. There is no need to spend a fortune on these extra items. Keep it simple:
- a bottle of water; and
- a collapsible pot for outdoors.